Medi-Cal Facts and Figures: A Program Transforms

Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, pays providers for essential primary, specialty, acute, and long term care services delivered to more than seven million Californians: children, their parents, pregnant women, seniors, and nonelderly adults with disabilities. In fiscal year 2012–13, Medi-Cal is projected to draw more than $37 billion in federal funds into the state's health care system and will account for nearly 23% of General Fund spending.

The program is in the midst of a major transformation, as it shifts most enrollees to managed care and prepares for a major expansion due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Enrollment will surge in 2013 as more than 850,000 children transition to Medi-Cal from the Healthy Families Program. Medi-Cal will see an estimated total increase of one million or more enrollees due to the ACA, including 680,000 people in 2014, the first year of Medi-Cal expansion under health reform.

As Medi-Cal evolves, it faces numerous challenges, including ensuring that enrollees have appropriate access to care and controlling health care costs. Medi-Cal Facts and Figures: A Program Transforms serves as an up-to-date overview of Medi-Cal, covering program eligibility and enrollment, benefits, service delivery, background on policy issues, budget, and forces that affect the program's costs.